Caracas, 3 de octubre de 2003 - Offnews.info

43"You have to work within certain parameters," the Panamanian ambassadorto the United Nations, Ricardo Arias, said.The speech led many diplomats tobelieve that if Venezuela gained a Security Council seat, Mr. Chavez wouldgo too far to split the council and render it ineffective, Mr. Arias added."We are fighting against the biggest power on the planet," the Venezuelanambassador to the United Nations, Francisco Javier Arias Cardenas, said."The U.S. is fighting us as if we were holding a nuclear bomb to destroy it."Guatemala began the day with 109 supporters, 15 votes shy of the twothirdsmajority needed to win the seat. Venezuela, which until yesterday wasacting as if its election were assured, received only 76 votes in the firstround.In later rounds, the rivals moved to a 93–93 tie. After 10 rounds, however,Guatemala was back in the lead, with 110 supporters to Venezuela's 77.Mr. Cardenas vowed to preserve his country's "dignity" and said Venezuelawould hang onto its core group of supporters "until the last moment." Butthe Guatemalan foreign minister, Gert Rosenthal, said,"If this goes on fordays and neither party gets the two-thirds, both should withdraw for a thirdcandidate."In October 1979, the General Assembly went through a record 154 rounds ofvoting as Cuba and Colombia vied for a council seat. Both finally withdrewin January 1980 after Mexico stepped in as a compromise candidate.At one point yesterday, as the assembly seemed deadlocked, one countryvoted Mexico in, only to be countered in the next round by a vote for Cuba.Most diplomats said publicly that for now, the contest is between Venezuelaand Guatemala, but that at least three countries - Costa Rica, the DominicanRepublic, and Uruguay - could enter the race.Earlier yesterday, South Africa, Italy, Belgium, and Indonesia easily wonenough votes for council seats. But after 10 rounds of voting for the LatinAmerican seat, the president of the General Assembly, Sheikha HayaRashed Al Khalifa, called a halt to the voting until today.